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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

MANCHESTER — Corporate parent Macy’s Inc. said its Bloomingdale’s unit
will open a 25,000-square-foot outlet store in Merrimack Premium Outlets
this year.

The store will employ about 35 workers.

The
Merrimack Premium Outlets, expected to open in June, have been steadily
adding tenants with 22 permits issued and 15 pending from the town of
Merrimack. Up to 100 stores are expected to join the mall.

Bloomingdale’s Outlet and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH will be the largest stores at 25,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet.

“We’ve had a great experience with Bloomingdale’s to date,” she said, noting a unit opened in Wrentham, Mass., late last year.

Besides
Merrimack, Bloomingdale’s outlets will open four other new stores as
well as one new Bloomingdale’s store and one replacement in California,
Macy’s said late Tuesday.

Macy’s also announced closings of four
Bloomingdale’s stores and five Macy’s stores in states from Georgia and
Maryland to Texas and Minnesota.

“This requires us to make some
difficult decisions to close stores that no longer meet our performance
requirements, as well as to open stores where we see opportunity,” Terry
J. Lundgren, Macy’s chairman, president and chief executive officer,
said in a statement.

Macy’s will offer transfers or severance benefits to affected employees.

When
the planned openings and closings are complete, Macy’s will operate 804
stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Macy’s said it will take a charge of $25 million to $30 million against earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011.